Sylvester Oromoni: Police Charge Five Dowen College Students, Three Staff To Court

Five students and three staff of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos State, have been reportedly charged to court over the alleged assault of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni.

This was made known by the Officer in charge of the legal department of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Lagos Police Command, Panti, Yaba, Yetunde Cardoso.

She stated the suspects, who have been reportedly charged with murder, were taken to court on Tuesday and arraigned before Magistrate A.O. Olatunbosu, at Court 1, Yaba.

Cardoso said at the court hearing, the plaintiff’s lawyer prayed the court for 30 days before the hearing of the case, but the Magistrate rejected the prayer and granted 25 days to await the advice of the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) before the hearing the case.

According to the legal officer, the magistrate ordered that the students be remanded in a juvenile house pending the hearing of the case.

She told reporters: “This is a murder case, they have to take them to court.

“We cannot keep them in our custody, they are minors, we have to take them to court where they would be remanded pending the conclusion of the investigation.

“We cannot keep them in our custody, because we don’t want human rights issue, where they would come tomorrow and say police is detaining minors with an adult. They would be remanded in a juvenile house, we cannot toy with the law, we have to do the right thing.

“Immediately we said would be taken them to court, the students’ parents’ attitude changed and they started weeping, while the children were also crying.”

This follows the report that two Dowen College students are said to have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command, totalling five students in police custody.

Also, three housemasters who were on duty on the day the unfortunate incident took place are also in the custody of the police.

Recall that the police had revealed that three of the five students mentioned by Sylvester are in their custody for allegedly assaulting Oromoni.

Naija News reports that this was made known by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu.

Speaking to The PUNCH, Odumosu said two other students of the school fingered in the assault, are now at large.

He added that those in police custody are helping the Command with information on how to track them.

According to the Police boss, Dowen College principal, housemasters, and other officials of the school are also assisting the police with information.